Time / Clock help

[TeeJayHoward]

Can someone intimately familiar with the workings of timekeeping help tell me what these systems do?

What is a timecode translator?
What is a timecode processor?
What is a timecode generator?
What is a timecode reader?

And how do all these interact with each other? My understanding of timekeeping is limited. You listen to GPS to get your initial values, and use 1PPS/10MHz/IRIG/etc to send that out to a rubidium or cesium beam clock, which can keep an accurate reading long after signal loss. Where does all the timecode stuff come in?

 

[mstone]

A time code is any machine readable representation of the time that can be used for synchronization purposes. The various IRIG formats are one example, SMTPE is another, others are used in other domains.

The generator, receiver, etc, are the devices reading out writing the code. The same machine can do both in some applications.

In some cases the workflow you describe is correct. In other cases the IRIG signal is highly available and used directly by receiving devices (which might not even have an internal clock). Or devices may use GPS for primary time and IRIG attached to a cesium clock for backup. Or any number of other combinations.